Kerry Anne King's "Everything You Are" - A Captivating Novel

C B Huebner: Intriguing , magical, mystical. I enjoyed it very much. Music can transport me away to another place, so this was quite relatable for me. Thank you for a pleasant weekend read!

United States on Sep 25, 2023

Stacie Stimac: This author writes so well that I have already read all of her books. I like this one too, it’s a engaging story wound around music and the cello. The only part I really didn’t like reading was the description of the relationship between the human and the instrument, it was weird. Otherwise, an amazing story!

United States on Aug 19, 2023

Jennifer Mayo: An easy read. Very emotional and solid characters. Hard topics done tastefully.
A nice tidy ending and would recommend to read.

United States on Jun 18, 2023

Judith: I struggle to get into this book but I’m so glad I did. It was a brilliantly written piece that kept me reading from about half way through

United Kingdom on Mar 23, 2023

kittikat626: I'll admit that I was initially surprised that I bought this book. It's just not my usual thing to read. I had to start it over once, but I'm so glad I did. I ended up really liking it.

United States on Mar 09, 2023

Terry: A more haunting book than any I have read in a long time.

Braden Healey is a drunk. Not just an alcoholic, but a drunk. He left his family 11 years ago when his wife made a demand he could not live with. As a result of that demand, Braden has memories he canʼt, won't, and refuses to remember.

When he was a young boy, as a musical prodigy, his mother took him to a music store to buy him a new violin. By the time he left the store, he did not have a violin, rather a cello and a signed contract with old luthier.

Years pass and Braden is a musician of great renown. There is a conflict in his family, which drives him away. He came home when his 17 year old daughter is left alone after another family tragedy, a car accident which killed her mother and brother. His daughter, never understanding the conflicts between adults, is not at all happy to see him, and made that very clear in the most horrible way a parent can face. Both blame themselves for the accident. Are they to blame?

After the old luthier dies, his granddaughter, Phee, takes over the music shop. He had taught her everything he knew before he passed, including the details of the contracts. Yes,...

United States on Dec 20, 2020

Rebecca S: This book was a pleasant surprise. I downloaded it to my Kindle without knowing anything about it, but found it engaging right from the start. It explores some difficult subject matter, including guilt, alcoholism and suicide, in a well-considered and sensitive way. However, I very much agree with Thanagma's review - the bits about the 'curse' didn't hold up well and, to be honest, it wasn't even needed. I am not a musician, but I know that many musician's do have very deep and intimate relationships with their instruments, so the cello's influence on Brandan's life and that of his daughter held true without the undertones of black magic. However, don't let that put you off - this is a good book - perfect for dark autumn nights or a holiday read.

United Kingdom on Oct 21, 2019

Chatterbox: I didn't manage to connect with the story almost at all. The idea of a musical curse was a badly executed fantasy that didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story, which although was quite touching in places, overall felt largely unrealistic and quite weak. The curse was badly weaved into the story, and I often thought that the author didn't really know what to do with it after it was mentioned at the start of the book, so she simply mentioned it here and there just for cross reference and consistency and no other purpose at all.

Character development was quite poor. It wasn't clear how and when Phee, all of a sudden, found herself in love with Braden. It was even more weird that her strange obsession with the so called curse led her to own drinking problems, which she then somehow resolved with her weird Angels setup! It would have been more likely if Phee required an admission to a psychiatrist herself rather than allowed to intervene with the lives of others. Especially, in the way she did it! Her attempts at resolving serious life's issues were, frankly, childish and also unrealistic. If only the types of problems mentioned in this book could be solved by...

United Kingdom on Sep 25, 2019

JacquiH: A dark story involving a cellist's decline into alcoholism after the death of a friend, the subsequent loss of his wife and son and alienation from his daughter and the rest of his family. He hits rock bottom and slowly emerges, as does his daughter, with the help of a luthier and her guilty conscience come spiritualistic ideas about musical instruments' souls and attachments to specific people. There are really dark bits with attempted suicide, but funny bits too - I love the idea of Adventure Angels, so positive and yes, fun. The people mostly feel realistic and the story is intriguing, and entrancing, enough to suspend belief and just read on.

United Kingdom on Sep 15, 2019

Thanagma (book-reader): On most levels I really enjoyed this book. The characters are realistic and flawed-but-likeable, and it’s told at a good pace, with a good plot. The main themes are of relationships, alcoholism, grief, music, and these are all well written.

My problem with it was that I didn’t quite buy into the book’s concept. Phee’s belief in and evidence for the ‘curse’ was the element that underpinned the story, and I just couldn’t connect with that. The correlation between the musicians who stop playing and tragedy was Phee’s evidence, and she persuades others that it’s true. But I just had the phrase “correlation doesn’t equal causation” running through my head in an indignant tone. And I don’t believe in curses: reading about some mystical elements is okay, but this was a bit too much for me.

That said, the other key element of the plot is of the mystery surrounding Bradon’s past: what happened all those years ago to move him from ‘involved father and musician’ to alcoholic loner? And what happened between him and his brother-in-law? That element really helped the book to move along.

Overall a good read.

United Kingdom on Sep 14, 2019